


The Brooding Excuse

by calibratingentropy



Series: Undercover Partners [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Culture, Alien Gender/Sexuality, Alien Sex, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Quad-sexed Ovoviviparous Marsupial Galra, fake relationship turns real
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 14:58:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15293988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calibratingentropy/pseuds/calibratingentropy
Summary: To facilitate information exchange, Thace and Ulaz have faked a romantic partnership for cycles. When Thace is suddenly informed that his "partner" had a contraceptive failure and is brooding, of course he goes to help. What he didn't expect is for feelings to have grown too real, and to get dragged into an attempt to free one of the slave gladiators in the Imperial Arena.





	The Brooding Excuse

**Author's Note:**

> Another branch of the Quad-Sexed Ovoviviparous Marsupial Galra AU cluster! This time with a little Thace/Ulaz and fake-relationships that turn into real ones. 
> 
> Special thanks to my betas: Geist, Pterodotyl, PictoJournalist, RahneDrop and dani_the_owl.
> 
> Some AU facts:  
> \--All Galra have ovotestis, a uterus/birth canal, a penis, and a pouch with at least two nipples. There are four sexes with slightly different arrangements.  
> \--Ulaz is a switch (able to make both eggs and sperm) and gender-identifies male. Thace is male.  
> \--Brooding is when the body makes eggs. Once the eggs are fertilized, they're incubated internally and then delivered at an early stage of development into a pouch to be nursed.  
> \--rather than things like condoms, most Galra contraceptives are chemical, and rely on stopping the production of eggs, or preventing fertilization

“Lieutenant Thace.” 

Thace only looked up from his work because Prorok’s tone was amused and smug, which usually spelled trouble. “Yes, sir?” 

“Leave for the rest of the movement,” Prorok announced, scent echoing his tone. Thace’s shock must have shown on his face, because Prorok read out loud the message he’d received. The others on the bridge snickered, but Thace only heard ‘contraceptive failure’ and Ulaz’s designation. Prorok finished with a leer. “Good thing we’re in the quadrant, isn’t it? Now you can go service your poor partner, and come back a sire.” 

Thace saluted and bowed, mind whirring. What had happened to Ulaz? A simple contraceptive failure didn’t seem likely, given Ulaz’s medical skill, so there must have been a reason to neglect it. Crude congratulations chased him off the bridge, and down the halls, but Thace only stopped at his quarters to make sure he had his blade, armor and other tools. Ulaz must need help with his mission, and that was exactly why he and Thace presented themselves as bonded partners. As risky as close association with another agent was, the benefit of having excuses to meet and contact each other outweighed the risks in their case. 

Thace’s mind raced the whole trip to Ulaz’s location, filled with various terrible scenarios, and word must have spread because the private manning the comms snickered when she heard Thace’s designation. No one stopped him on the way to Ulaz’s quarters, and the door opened immediately when Thace pressed the chime. 

The scent that hit him almost bowled him right over. Spiced, tangy musk, begging Thace to go to his knees and press his nose to the source, even if his partnership with Ulaz was (not anymore) entirely a ruse. Ulaz chirped, soft and desperate for attention, and Thace had to press his hand over his face while taking a steadying breath to clear his head. It didn’t stop his cock from abruptly unsheathing in his bodysuit. “You really are brooding. What happened?” 

“It was the quickest way to get you here,” Ulaz admitted through gritted teeth, “and we have no time. I’ve discovered the witch’s full plans for Shiro, and if news about the Blue Lion is true…” 

“It is. I finished decoding the intercepted transmissions last shift. We only have until Zarkon makes a final decision on which Commander to task the invasion with. What of Shiro?” Understanding didn’t make the tempting scent much easier to bear, but Thace had more self control than to lose himself to the urges, and imagining the poor planet’s fate did a great deal to cool his desire. 

“He’s going to be reprogrammed, stripped of free will to be her puppet, starting next shift. The puppet will have all of Shiro’s skills, including the ability to lead, to inspire, and encourage trust.” Ulaz stopped there, and Thace’s heart broke for both Ulaz and Shiro. 

Leader had refused the proposed plan to free Shiro as far too risky, and not worth the loss of a field agent. It was accurate. Thace knew he should protest, but he’d known Ulaz for centuries, worked with him, played the role of his partner for long enough that he was sure the bond between them had become real, if weak, and all of that stalled him. Instead Thace swallowed, stepped forward, and said, “how can I help?” 

Ulaz dropped the short robe he favored in his off time and canted his hips forward with a pleading noise. “Next shift, Haggar wants to install an eye and hearing augmentation and I will be asked to do it. I’ve done all I can to sabotage the memory suppression, but that won’t stop her long. It has to be tomorrow, and there’s too much to be done on my own. I need override codes for a pod, and someone to input Krolia’s coordinates for her partner’s location.” 

Thace vaguely remembered Krolia’s mission that had left her stranded, and her mayday, and how she and Kolivan had returned smelling of the particular grief of a lost child. She’d found the Blue Lion for them, and then left when she couldn’t protect it from Earth. She’d know where to send Shiro to find it and her Earthling, who would know enough to help. Thace was an old hand at reprogramming pods. He could do as requested easily by playing bored Lieutenant waiting for his brooding partner to get off shift so they could have sex again. 

“I’ll do it.” There were other things that they should discuss, Thace knew that, but he went to his knees and pressed his nose to slick-drenched thighs, hearing Ulaz trill above him and seeing a canal flushed and shivering. He pressed his cheek there, smearing himself in the proof of Ulaz’s condition and ensuring he’d carry that scent on him for shifts. A most primal claim. 

They fell to it after that, lost in scent and trills, and the desperate need that brooding brought with it. The sex that they never should have had while only posing as partners was still rare and novel enough that Thace peaked the moment his cock breached Ulaz’s final barrier, and Ulaz cried out through a trill and followed. A single time wouldn’t be enough to fertilize the eggs Ulaz had allowed to finish forming, but the consequences stretched so much farther. There was no denying they’d formed an actual partner bond, not with Thace so easily swayed from what he knew was sensible, and foolishly _wanting_ what brooding promised. 

As they lay locked together in the aftermath, Thace finally asked the question. “What of my cover?”

“I will shoot you and knock you unconscious before my escape. Your instincts will cry betrayal, even knowing the truth, and I trust that you can think up a plausible way to condemn me without harming your position.” 

Thace could, and did. “Come to me covered in Shiro’s scent; I’ll do the rest.”

* * *

Everything worked as planned. Thace endured smirks and ribbing when he asked for work to do, and slipped away from his assigned task in a quiet moment to prepare the pod. When finished with the task, he returned to Ulaz’s quarters and carefully tore it apart to look like a fight. Torn sheets, disturbed items, a dent in the door, a smashed light, and bruises on his flesh. 

Then he waited, and it was still almost a shock when Ulaz came through the door smelling of someone else. To his own surprise, Thace didn’t feel the expected jealousy, but instead protective. The Earthling’s scent was so thick with pain, fear and confusion, and threaded over it, trust and gratitude. So strong, but so fragile, and when Thace’s eyes met Ulaz’s he know why Ulaz was doing this. And he knew what he wanted—

Ulaz spoke first. “If I survive, I’m not going to flush the eggs. I— be strong and swift, my partner.” 

They’d never acknowledged it between themselves and Thace’s heart stopped. “I’ll hold that secret knowledge close as a star to guide me, my partner. Be strong and swift, and wait for me.” 

He’d find a way. His mission was bound to end eventually, because no agent could last forever without cracking under the strain. Thace indulged in the desire to press their cheeks together and stepped back. He hardly felt the pain as Ulaz pulled out the small pistol and fired, and welcomed the blackness as it engulfed him.

* * *

Thace woke to the brighter light of a medical bay, with only a mild ache in his head and abdomen. Prorok was standing behind the medical sentry, arms crossed, but smelling amused. “So it’s true; your partner abandoned you for the Champion.” 

Thace hissed, letting his focus drift to how the Empire betrayed and his anger to make his scent more real, and then looked away. The picture of the abandoned lover. He let his voice catch in his throat. “He wanted the Champion to sire, and me to carry. If it had been another Galra—“ 

The art of a good lie was letting the listener make assumptions. Prorok smirked and nodded. “You’ll get your chance for vengeance; the Champion has found the Voltron Lions and all fleets are on alert. There’s been no word from Sendak in a shift, and my territory is the next closest to their last known location. Once we take down Voltron, I can let you have another leave to track down the xenophile traitor.” 

Thace wanted to smile, but held it to a grim snarl. Ulaz had succeeded better than they could have hoped. He had escaped alive, and Shiro had done so much more than just see the Blue Lion safe. Thace could now work to aid the Blades _and_ Voltron, and with Voltron in the mix, he might even be reunited with Ulaz soon. So this was the hope Ulaz always spoke so highly of. It felt good. 

“Yes, I will get my chance, Commander. I won’t fail.”


End file.
